


is this the start of something wonderful and new?

by wago9000



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:14:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21662746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wago9000/pseuds/wago9000
Summary: ted gives charlotte a ride home when sam can't.compliant with black friday & tgwdlm, takes place before events of either.title from city of stars from la la land
Relationships: Charlotte/Ted (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals), Past Paul Matthews/Ted
Comments: 1
Kudos: 37





	is this the start of something wonderful and new?

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this wayyyy back in january ! it's just some self indulgent fic bc i love ted lol sorry

Despite it only being around six in the evening, it was nearly pitch black outside of CCRP Technical. That’s just how winter was, Charlotte supposed. She didn’t mind much, though. The outside lights didn’t turn off until eight since that’s usually how late Mr. Davidson stayed. Plus, she didn’t need those lights to see her solitaire game. Her phone took care of that for her. 

She was starting to worry about the charge on her phone though. Sam had said he’d be there to get her by five thirty, so she’d been rather frivolous with her battery usage. Maybe she’d have to stop with the solitaire.

Charlotte exited out of her game and let her phone rest in her lap. She looked up at the sky and the bright, near-full moon in the sky. It was too bad the stars were invisible in Hatchetfield. She missed home, where she could lay out in her backyard and pick out constellations. 

Her fingers fidgeted with the hem of her sweater as she looked up at the sky. Sam would be there soon, right? He wouldn’t just forget about her. He loved her. That’s what he’d said to the counselor. He loved her, even though she was hard to love. He loved her, even though her entire wardrobe consisted of ugly sweaters and skirts that were far longer than necessary. 

As Charlotte worried about her husband, the front entrance to CCRP swung open. It was Ted, whistling and jingling his keys in his pocket. The song sounded familiar. Something from a movie maybe? She could never place things like that.

“Charlotte? What’re you still doing here?” Ted asked, stopping next to the bench she was waiting at.

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m just waitin’ for Sam to get here.” She waved a hand dismissively, but her eyes didn’t leave her phone as the screen lit up with a flurry of notifications.

**[6:14]** Sam ❤️🚓: baby, i’m so sorry, but i can’t come get u

**[6:15]** Sam ❤️🚓: 1 of the guys had to go home and i said i would take his night shift for him

**[6:15]** Sam ❤️🚓: i can call u an uber?

**[6:15]** Solitaire: Come play with Kings and Queens!

“Are you sure you don’t want some company?” Ted asked, his tone more concerned than Charlotte had ever heard before. Granted, she’d never heard him very concerned at all before. Usually she just heard him talking bluntly to customers.  _ Very _ bluntly.

“Er, well, it looks like I’m calling an Uber anyways, so I won’t be waiting much longer. Thank you, though.”

“An Uber?” Ted said, almost offended. “Unless Sam himself drives an Uber, that’s not happening. C’mon. I’ll give you a ride home.”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly—”

“Yes. You can.” Ted said firmly, extending his hand to pull her off the bench.

“Oh, alright,” Charlotte said. Her face was flushed red as she tucked her phone away into her purse and accepted his outstretched hand. To her surprise, he didn’t let go of it once she was up. He kept ahold of it all the way to his car. He only let go to open the passenger door for her.

“You live a couple streets away from Pinebrooke, right?” Ted asked, fumbling with his GPS. Charlotte nodded silently, too busy inspecting all the details of Ted’s car to give a verbal answer. There was a cheesy pair of red plush dice hanging on the mirror. There were two film strips, like the kind from a mall photobooth, tucked under the sun visor. One of them was with Paul and the other a girl Charlotte wasn’t familiar with.

“Is that your girlfriend?” She asked shyly, pointing towards it. Ted scoffed and tucked them back under. Had she upset him?

“Nah, that’s my kid sister. Junie. She lives over in Clivesdale.” 

The GPS began pumping out directions, and the soundtrack to La La Land played softly beneath it.

_ “City of stars… are you shining just for me?” _

“Oh!” Charlotte exclaimed in excited realization. “Is this what you were whistling earlier?”

“Hm? Oh, probably.” Ted said dismissively. “Good thing Paul left early today; he’d have killed me if he heard me whistling this again. He hated that movie. Got pissed that they were using tap shoes on hard cement. Well, and the singing. He hates musicals. The dancing is fine, but once the singing kicks up, he’s done. I think it’s why we never worked out as a couple. I freakin’ love musicals.”

Charlotte had no idea how to process that sudden rambling. Ted and Paul had… dated? When? Ted was gay? And Paul? Also, Paul didn’t like musicals? She suddenly felt awfully guilty for having played some songs from  _ Beauty and the Beast _ at her desk the other day.

“D-did you see that production of um, Cabaret that was at the Starlight last month?”

“Yeah, I went with Bill and his kid. It was pretty good. I think I like the original version more than the revamped one though. Did you see it?”

“No, uh… Sam and I had plans to see it, but he ended up havin’ work so we didn’t get to go.”

“Man, Sam seems like he’s pretty shit at following through with plans,” Ted said as he rounded the corner to Charlotte’s apartment building. 

“He- he’s trying his best,” she said weakly. Having someone else confirm her own worries made it a lot harder to justify his flakiness. 

They pulled up to the visitor parking without continuing the discussion, the gentle score of La La Land guiding them in. “Thank you for the ride,” Charlotte said softly, one hand fussing with her headband as she unbuckled. 

“It’s no problem,” Ted said with a smile that was unusually warm for him. “I usually don’t have anything going on after work, so let me know next time you need a ride, alright?”

“Oh, I’m sure there won’t be a next—”

“Let me know. Please. You don’t need to sit in the cold and wait for someone who isn’t going to show up.”

Charlotte hesitated for a long moment before she finally whispered an “okay.”

“Good. Now, go get inside and get warmed up. Make yourself something good to eat. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” Charlotte echoed as she got out of the car, unsure how she was supposed to feel about all this. She’d never seen Ted be so kind with someone besides maybe Paul when they bring each other coffee. Or when they used to? She appreciated it, but she didn’t like the unsubtle digs at her marriage. It wasn’t her fault it wasn’t working out; He shouldn’t be so mean about it. Despite her uncertainty, she paused as she walked towards her stairs and waved a kind goodbye to Ted, who waved one back with a smile bigger than she’d seen him wear in a while.


End file.
